Exercise caution on fitness machine claims

“Fat-burning” zones: According to intensity zones on some machines, you don’t have to work as hard to burn fat. But weight loss, or what some interpret as “fat burning,” comes from total calorie expenditure. It’s the combination of intensity and duration that counts.

Waist reduction: Spot-reduction is a fantasy. Machines that only train abdominal muscles won’t remove fat from the stomach; only total-body exercise and weight loss will yield those results.

“Exercisers should focus on overall health and accumulating at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity activity, or at least 75 minutes per week of vigorous-intensity activity,” he says. More is needed for weight loss.